Interviews with Foreign Leaders

  • Explore the exhibit
    • View records from exhibit section

    People

    Ordered alphabetically by last name of interviewee, this list includes interviews with foreign leaders from a variety of public broadcasting television and radio stations that are available for online access in the AAPB.

    A

    Mahmoud Abbas (b. 1935), President of the State of Palestine, 2005-

    Abdullah II al-Hussein (b. 1962), King of Jordan, 1999-

    Bertie Ahern (b. 1951), Prime Minister of Ireland, 1997-2008

    Raúl Alfonsín (1927-2009), President of Argentina, 1983-1989

    Ayad Allawi (b. 1944), Interim Prime Minister of Iraq, 2004-2005

    Corazon Aquino (1933-2009), President of the Philippines, 1986-1992

    Yasser Arafat (1929-2004), Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, 1969-2004; President of the Palestinian National Authority, 1994-2004

    Óscár Arias (b. 1940), President of Costa Rica, 1986-1990 and 2006-2010

    Jean-Bertrand Aristide (b. 1953), President of Haiti, 1991; 1993-1994; 1994-1996; 2001-2004

    Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (b. 1947), President of the Philippines, 2001-2010

    José Azcona (1927-2005), President of Honduras, 1986-1990

    B

    Ehud Barak (b. 1942), Prime Minister of Israel, 1999-2001

    Mehdi Bazargan (1907-1995), Prime Minister of Iran, 1979

    Menachem Begin (1913-1992), Prime Minister of Israel, 1977-1983

    Chadli Bendjedid (1929-2012), President of Algeria, 1979-1992

    Belisario Betancur (1923-2018), President of Colombia, 1982-1986

    Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007), Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1988-1990, 1993-1996

    Tony Blair (b. 1953), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1997-2007

    Willy Brandt (1913-1992), Chancellor of West Germany, 1969-1974

    Forbes Burnham (1923-1985), Prime Minister of Guyana, 1964-1980; Executive President of Guyana, 1980-1985

    Gatsha Buthelezi (b. 1928), Chief Minister of KwaZulu, Chief Minister of Zulu Territorial Authority and KwaZulu, 1970-1994

    C

    Fidel Castro (1926-2016), Prime Minister of Cuba, 1959-1976; President of Cuba, 1976-2008

    Vinicio Cerezo (b. 1942), President of Guatemala, 1986-1991

    Violeta Chamorro (b. 1929), President of Nicaragua, 1990-1997

    Jacques Chirac (1932-2019), Prime Minister of France, 1974-1976, 1986-1988; President of France, 1995-2007

    Tansu Çiller (b. 1946), Prime Minister of Turkey, 1993-1996

    Alfredo Cristiani (b. 1947), President of El Salvador, 1989-1994

    D

    F. W. de Klerk (1936-2021), President of South Africa, 1989-1994

    Miguel de la Madrid (1934-2012), President of Mexico, 1982-1988

    Süleyman Demirel (1924-2015), Prime Minister of Turkey, 1965-1971, 1975-1977, 1977-1978, 1979-1980, 1991-1993; President of Turkey, 1993-2000

    Morarji Desai (1896-1995), Prime Minister of India, 1977-1979

    Milovan Djilas (1911-1995), Minister for Montenegro, 1945; Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, 1953-1954

    Pham Van Dong (1906-2000), Prime Minister of North Vietnam, 1955-1976; Prime Minister of Vietnam, 1976-1987

    José Napoleón Duarte (1925-1990), Head of Revolutionary Government Junta, 1980-1982; President of El Salvador, 1984-1989

    E

    Bülent Ecevit (1925-2006), Prime Minister of Turkey, 1974, 1977, 1978-1979, 1999-2002

    Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (b. 1954), Prime Minister of Turkey, 2003-2014; President of Turkey, 2014-

    Levi Eshkol (1895-1969), Prime Minister of Israel, 1963-1969

    F

    Garret FitzGerald (1926-2011), Prime Minister of Ireland, 1981-1982; 1982-1987

    Francisco Flores (1959-2016), President of El Salvador, 1999-2004

    Vicente Fox (b. 1942), President of Mexico, 2000-2006

    Alberto Fujimori (b. 1938), President of Peru

    Takeo Fukuda (1905-1995), Prime Minister of Japan, 1974-1976

    G

    Muammar Gaddafi (ca. 1942-2011), Leader of Libya, 1969-2011

    Indira Gandhi (1917-1984), Prime Minister of India, 1966-1977; 1980-1984

    Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991), Prime Minister of India, 1984-1989

    Ejup Ganić (b. 1946), President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1997-2001

    César Gaviria (b. 1947), President of Colombia, 1990-1994

    Felipe González (b. 1942), Prime Minister of Spain, 1982-1996

    Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022), General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1985-1991; President of the Soviet Union, 1990-1991

    Károly Grósz (1930-1996), Prime Minister of Hungary and General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party

    Inder Gujral (1919-2012), Prime Minister of India, 1997-1998

    H

    Hafez al-Assad (1930-2000), Prime Minister of Syria, 1970-1971; President of Syria, 1971-2000

    Rafiq Hariri (1944-2005), Prime Minister of Lebanon, 1992-1998, 2000-2004

    Ryutaro Hashimoto (1937-2006), Prime Minister of Japan, 1996-1998

    Hassan bin Talal (b. 1947), Crown Prince of Jordan, 1965-1999

    Mohammad Hatta (1902-1980), Prime Minister of Indonesia, 1948-1950

    Charles Haughey (1925-2006), Prime Minister of Ireland, 1982; 1987-1992

    Václav Havel (1936-2011), President of Czechoslovakia, 1989-1992; President of the Czech Republic, 1993-2003

    Bob Hawke (1929-2019), Prime Minister of Australia, 1983-1991

    Morihiro Hosokawa (b. 1938), Prime Minister of Japan, 1993-1994

    John Howard (b. 1939), Prime Minister of Australia, 1996-2007

    Hussein bin Talal (1935-1999), King of Jordan, 1952-1999

    J

    Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923-2014), President of Poland, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party, 1981-1989, Prime Minister of Poland, 1981-1985, Chairman of the Council of State, 1985-1989, President of Poland, 1989-1990

    Jiang Zemin (1926-2022), President of the People’s Republic of China, 1993-2003

    K

    Joseph Kabila (b. 1971), President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2001-2019

    Toshiki Kaifu (1931-2022), Prime Minister of Japan, 1989-1991

    Radovan Karadžić (b. 1945), President of Republika Srpska, 1992-1996

    Kostas Karamanlis (b. 1956), Prime Minister of Greece, 2004-2009

    Hamid Karzai (b. 1957), Interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, 2001-2002; President of Afghanistan, 2002-2014

    Enda Kenny (b. 1951), Prime Minister of Ireland, 2011-2017

    Nguyễn Khánh (1927-2013), Prime Minister of South Vietnam, 1964

    Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900 or 1902-1989), Supreme Leader of Iran, 1979-1989

    Kim Dae-Jung (1924-2009), President of South Korea, 1998-2003

    Leonid Kravchuk (1934-2022), President of Ukraine, 1991-1994

    Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland, 1995-2005

    Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (1930-2011), Prime Minister of South Vietnam, 1965-1967; Vice President of South Vietnam, 1967-1971

    L

    Enrico Letta (b.1966), Prime Minister of Italy, 2013-2014

    René Lévesque (1922-1987), Premier of Quebec, 1976-1985

    José López Portillo (1920-2004), President of Mexico, 1976-1982

    M

    Álvaro Magaña (1925-2001), President of El Salvador, 1982-1984

    Muhammad Ahmad Mahgoub (1908-1976), Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1956-1958; Prime Minister of Sudan, 1965-1966

    John Major (b. 1943), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1990-1997

    Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), President of the African National Congress, 1991-1997; President of South Africa, 1994-1999

    Michael Manley (1924-1997), Prime Minister of Jamaica, 1972-1980; 1989-1992

    Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989), President of the Philippines, 1965-1986

    Ante Marković (1924-2011), Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, 1989-1991

    Tadeusz Mazowiecki (1927-2013), Prime Minister of Poland, 1989-1991

    Thabo Mbeki (b. 1942), President of South Africa, 1999-2008

    Golda Meir (1898-1978), Prime Minister of Israel, 1969-1974

    Mengistu Haile Mariam (b. 1937), Head of State of Ethiopia, 1977-1991, President of Ethiopia, 1987-1991

    François Mitterrand (1916-1996), President of France, 1981-1995

    Hosni Mubarak (1928-2020), President of Egypt, 1981-2011

    Brian Mulroney (1939-2024), Prime Minister of Canada, 1984-1993

    Pervez Musharraf (1943-2023), President of Pakistan, 2001-2008

    N

    Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970), President of Egypt, 1954-1970

    Ahmed Nazif (b. 1952), Prime Minister of Egypt, 2004-2011

    Benjamin Netanyahu (b. 1949), Prime Minister of Israel, 1996-1999; 2009-2021; 2022-

    Julius Nyerere (1922-1999), President of the Tanganyika African National Union, 1954-1990; Prime Minister of Tanganyika, 1961-1962; President of Tanganyika, 1962-1964; President of Tanzania, 1964-1985

    O

    Ehud Olmert (b. 1945), Prime Minister of Israel, 2006-2009

    Daniel Ortega (b. 1945), President of Nicaragua, 1985-1990, 2007-

    Turgut Özal (1927-1993), President of Turkey

    P

    Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-1980), Shah of Iran, 1941-1979

    George Papandreou (b. 1952), Foreign Minister of Greece, 1999-2004; Prime Minister of Greece, 2009-2011

    Andrés Pastrana (b. 1954), President of Colombia, 1998-2002

    Li Peng (1928-2019), Premier of the People’s Republic of China, 1987-1998

    Shimon Peres (1923-2016), Prime Minister of Israel, 1984-1986; 1995-1996

    Carlos Andrés Pérez (1922-2010), President of Venezuela, 1974-1979, 1989-1993

    Kazimiera Prunskienė (b. 1943), Prime Minister of Lithuania, 1990-1991

    R

    Yitzhak Rabin (1922-1995), Prime Minister of Israel, 1974-1977, 1992-1995; Minister of Defense of Israel, 1984-1990

    Roh Moo-Hyun (1946-2009), President of South Korea, 2003-2008

    S

    Anwar el-Sadat (1918-1981), President of Egypt, 1970-1981

    Barham Salih (b. 1960), Prime Minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Regional Government, 2001-2004, 2009-2012; President of Iraq, 2018-2022

    Carlos Salinas de Gortari (b. 1948), President of Mexico, 1988-1994

    Ernesto Samper (b. 1950), President of Colombia, 1994-1998

    Juan Manuel Santos (b. 1951), President of Colombia, 2010-2018

    Helmut Schmidt (1918-2015), Chancellor of West Germany, 1974-1982

    Edward Seaga (1930-2019), Prime Minister of Jamaica, 1980-1989

    Yitzhak Shamir (1915-2012), Prime Minister of Israel, 1983-1984; 1986-1992

    Nawaz Sharif (b. 1949), Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1990-1993, 1997-1999, 2013-2017

    Haris Silajdžić (b. 1945), Prime Minister of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1993-1996

    Anastasio Somoza (1925-1980), President of Nicaragua, 1967-1972, 1974-1979

    Nicola Sturgeon (b. 1970), First Minister of Scotland, 2014-2023

    T

    Jalal Talabani (1933-2017), President of Iraq, 2005-2014

    Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1979-1990

    Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (1923-2001), President of South Vietnam, 1967-1975

    Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (1910-1996), Prime Minister of Republic of South Vietnam, 1975-1976; Acting President of Vietnam, 1980-1981

    Anote Tong (b. 1952), President of Kiribati, 2003-2016

    David Trimble (1944-2022), First Minister of Northern Ireland, 1998-2002

    V

    John Vorster (1915-1983), Prime Minister of South Africa

    Franz Vranitzky (b. 1937), Chancellor of Austria, 1986-1997

    W

    Lech Walesa (b. 1943), President of Poland, 1990-1995

    Y

    Ebrahim Yazdi (1931-2017), Deputy Prime Minister of Iran, 1979

    Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007), President of Russia, 1991-1999

    Z

    Ernesto Zedillo (b. 1951), President of Mexico, 1994-2000

    Zhou Enlai (1898-1976), Premier of the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1976

    Zhu Rongji (b. 1928), Premier of the People’s Republic of China, 1998-2003

    Next: Country

    Exhibit Sections

    People
    Country
    Date
    Resource:

    Curator

    Alyssa Knapp

    2021 Library of Congress Junior Fellow and graduate student in the UCLA Masters of Library and Information Science program

    Additional Resources

    Joint Meeting & Joint Session Addresses Before Congress by Foreign Leaders & Dignitaries (U.S. House of Representatives)
    Visits by Foreign Leaders (U.S. Department of State)
    World Leaders – Historical Data (CIA)
    World Leaders (Encyclopedia Britannica)
    Country Studies (Library of Congress)
    PBS NewsHour Collection (AAPB)